Many techniques exist for observing or monitoring the gastrointestinal (GI) system of a patient. For example, a patient may be asked to perform a barium swallow while the progress of the barium is observed radiographically. A gastric emptying scan involves consumption of a radioactive meal, and observation by x-ray. Scintigraphy, another widely used technique, involves use of a gamma camera and a radiolabeled test meal. The patient may be given a drug to consume, and the patient's blood may be monitored for concentration of the drug. The patient's GI activity may be monitored by an ultrasound procedure, or by monitoring the patient's electrical impedance, or by monitoring isotopes in the breath of the patient.
Each of these techniques has significant drawbacks. Many of them require large equipment and are limited to a hospital setting. Many of them also use radiation or drugs as part of the monitoring, and many cannot be safely repeated without a risk of harm to the patient.
Table 1 lists patents that disclose systems or devices that monitor the GI system or a portion thereof. One of the patents, for example, describes a breath test analyzer that determines a gastric emptying rate in response to the presence of isotope labeled products in the patient's breath following ingestion of an isotope labeled substance. Some of the patents describe methods or devices for monitoring pH levels in certain locations, of for sending capsules to make measurements at or deliver medication to particular sites within the GI system.
Patent NumberInventorsTitle6,491,643Katzman, et al.Breath test analyzer6,338,345Johnson, et al.Submucosal prosthesis delivery device6,240,312Alfano, et al.Remote-controllable, micro-scale devicefor use in in vivo medical diagnosisand/or treatment5,395,366D′Andrea, et al.Sampling capsule and process5,279,607Schentag, et al.Telemetry capsule and process4,844,076Lesho, et al.Ingestible size continuously transmittingtemperature monitoring pill
The patents listed in Table 1 above are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entirety. As those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate readily upon reading the Summary of the Invention, Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiments and Claims set forth below, some of the devices and methods disclosed in the patent of Table 1 may be modified advantageously by using the techniques of the present invention.